2024 Maine Music

Dr. Dwayne Tomah

Passamaquoddy Language Keeper

Passamaquoddy

Edmunds, ME

“If you know where you come from, you know where you’re going.”

Dr. Dwayne Tomah

Pow wow dancer.

Annual Celebration and get-together of Passamaquoddy community members with dancing, drumming, and singing in Split Rock. Photo courtesy of Dr. Dwayne Tomah.

Sharing an old ancestral dance called the Canoe Dance at Split Rock in 2023.

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Language keeper, singer, & dancer

Dr. Dwayne Tomah is a Language Keeper, he is a teacher of the Passamaquoddy language and culture. He is the youngest fluent speaker of the Passamaquoddy Tribe and has served on the Tribal Council. His life has been dedicated to working on the language and culture preservation, he has edited the Passamaquoddy dictionary and worked to help create the Apple ~ Passamaquoddy Language App. He shares Native legends through song and dance.

Dwayne is currently working with the Library of Congress on translating the Passamaquoddy Wax Cylinders. These recordings are the first recordings in the world of Native languages. They were recorded in 1890 by Jesse Walter Fewkes, who borrowed the device from the inventor Thomas Edison. Dwayne has also been involved in repatriation and Land Back issues. He shares historical truth regarding The Doctrine of Discovery from an Indigenous perspective. He has also worked with Animal Planet on a segment called Winged Creatures, highlighting the history of the Thunderbird.